UT football: Why Wyoming? Ask Arkansas

One of the most popular questions concerning this week’s Texas-Wyoming game is not about UT’s depleted offensive line or how the Longhorns will fare against a Cowboys secondary that intercepted five passes last week. People seem to want to know something much simpler:

Why is this game being played in the first place?

Typically, perennial Top 10 programs don’t visit places like Laramie, Wyo., where they’re calling Saturday’s nationally televised affair the biggest football game in the history of the state. And typically, this spot on the UT schedule would be filled by an opponent with a bigger name, as the Longhorns try to play at least one nonconference game per season against a team from a power conference.

In fact, the Longhorns were supposed to be headed for Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend to take on Arkansas, their old Southwest Conference rivals. But last April, the Razorbacks announced they were bumping UT from their schedule to set up a series against Texas A&M in Arlington.

That left UT without an opponent for this weekend, and since most nonconference schedules are set several years in advance, the Longhorns had to scramble for a game. They wound up with a three-year deal with Wyoming, agreeing to travel to Laramie once if the Cowboys came to Austin twice. Wyoming will play at UT in 2010 and in 2012.

UT already has BCS-league opponents lined up for the next four years. The Longhorns play a home-and-home with UCLA in 2010 and 2011, and a home-and-home with Mississippi in 2012 and 2013. This season, though, they’re without a marquee nonconference game, and they’re hoping that lack of schedule strength won’t hurt them.

If the Longhorns win out, they should be fine. Already ranked No. 2 in the nation in both major polls, a perfect record in a tough Big 12 should be more than enough to land them one of the top two spots in the BCS rankings at the end of the season. Where things could get tricky is if they lose a game and then have to beat out a one-loss team from the SEC or Pac-10, or even an undefeated team along the lines of BYU or Boise State.

In that scenario, the Razorbacks might be able to keep the Longhorns out of the national title game simply by refusing to play them. Who said that rivalry was dead?